Rockport sport fishing strong despite freeze

ROCKPORT — On a balmy but breezy day in Aransas Bay, the big freeze of 2011 seemed like a lot of hot air.

If anything, the fishing is better than normal, with plenty of large redfish and many at the upper end of the 28-inch slot limit and over. That’s an unusual occurrence so early in the spring, Capt. Ron Matson of Reel ’N’ With Ron Guide Service said as he guided three anglers to his sweet spot.

Matson had feared the worst in February when a bitter cold front kept the air temperature ranging from the high 20s to low 30s for three days.

In the 1980s, three freezes devastated the coastal sport fishing population with a combined estimate of more than 30 million dead fish, and one in 1997 hammered speckled trout, red fish and black drum to a much lesser extent.

This year sport fish in the Rockport area dodged a bullet. Instead, mostly mullet and hardhead catfish took the hit.

“Nobody was complaining about losing the hardheads,” Matson said of the notorious bait thieves.

Big schools of mullet and shad and plenty of pinfish and golden croakers are all over the bay, he said while anchoring in a narrow, knee-deep tidal flow area between two small islands.

“We usually catch redfish and trout in the spring, but they are running larger than usual,” Matson said. “From what I’m hearing, everyone is doing really well and landing bigger fish. We’re catching black drum in good numbers, too.”

– Use a variety of baits on different rods to see what works including live mullet, croaker and shrimp; cut bait; and blue crab.

– Mann’s Baby Waker in Texas Sunrise is Matson’s go-to artificial lure because the crankbait doesn’t spook fish with a big splash, runs just deep enough and mimics an easy prey with just about any kind of retrieve.